Corn Potato & Fennel Roast

For the millionth time, I am raving about all the fresh, flavorful goodness you can find at market about this time of year. I love to make up things as I go through the store and see what looks and smells delish. I was watching Bobby Flay's Grill It a couple of days ago, and he made a grilled fennel and orange salad. It looked really yummy but...I knew that Rich would not go for something like that...fennel and orange? He'd think I had lost my mind! :) However, when I want Rich to try something new (such as fennel) I know how to "sugarcoat it" as I figure out a way to incorporate bacon, potatoes, cheese, corn, etc. "Man food" usually does the trick when I want him try things. :) So, with fennel on my mind, I found a great piece of it. Baby honeygold potatoes were next, then I found some fresh basil and white corn on the cob. Fresh garlic, then applewood smoked bacon was next. And of course, what is man food without a little garlic and herb Irish butter (I don't use real butter very often.) I had a great time making up as I went...and dinner turned out amazing! I also made a sun-dried tomato & pepperoncini salad. Yum.

Basil, potatoes, corn, fennel, garlic and Irish garlic & herb butter

Applewood smoked, thick cut bacon

 First, start prepping all the fresh stuff--slice the fennel, peel and crush the garlic. I used my mortar and pestle to do this. 

The garlic, just before chopping and crushing

This is when I love my Dutch oven. I put the bacon in with 1/8 c of the butter on medium and let it gently start cooking.

While the bacon was cooking I cut the fresh corn off the cob. Also I cut the potatoes in half. Then, I removed the bacon from the dutch oven so that it wouldn't overcook. It cooked about 3-5 minutes total.

In my pan: garlic, corn, potatoes, and fennel, to cook in the bacon drippings and butter. I let the rest of the stick of butter melt into it. I let everything cook on medium for about 8 minutes. The oven was ready on 400 degrees. I stirred in the bacon, then covered my dutch oven and put it into the oven.

The dish roasted for 20 minutes. And it was successful: Rich tried, and liked, fennel. :)

Whirlwind Weekend

Just about a month ago we moved in across the street from our friends, the Odoms. For those of you who don't know them, you can "meet them" HERE. :) The kids have been really excited about the possibility of coming over. This past Thursday, I picked up the kids in the evening for a sleepover. Let the adventure begin!! Let me lead by saying, these kids are VERY GOOD!! If I hadn't already known that, I wouldn't have been nearly brave enough to keep all three for two days! Rich took David to a hobby store to get a chemistry kit. If you don't know the two of them, I don't know how to explain how significant this was for them. :) I took the girls to the market to pick up some items for their dinner of choice--pizza, salad, and ice cream. Tori made her own salad (very cute!) and we had dinner. By that time the boys were home and watched Megamind. As cute as it was, it wasn't nearly as cute as all the kids' comments!! The girls were out about 11:30, but David stayed up chatting till about 2am!! The next morning I made pancakes for breakfast. After a little time cleaning up the house, we spent the day at the pool!! All in all I kept the house fairly clean, but I definitely fell behind on laundry! Saturday night they came over again for a few hours. Love those little munchkins!!

Sunday we had Family Fun Night at FBC. Somehow I found time to go shopping AND make a giant dutch oven full of pizza casserole for the potluck. We had a great time!! There were 130 people there which is a lot for us! I got to take my first real hayride (very exciting) and just as we were getting to the end of the ride, some wire got stuck round the tire. Then it started pouring!!! I kept weighing the options: wade through possible cow poo, or get rained on. Since my hair was curly anyway, initially I decided just to be soaked. But it can REALLY rain in Florida! So, Tiffany, Natalie, Jenny and I ended up making a run for it!! A hilarious end to our hayride. :)

Today I caught up on laundry. This afternoon Rich and I took the computer to the Apple Store at Galleria Mall to get a new charging cord. On the way home I convinced him to stop at Pizza Fusion for dinner. The look on his face was comical. "Earth friendly, organic, fresh pizza" is the probably the last thing that Rich would want to eat. He's really a meat and potatoes kinda guy. When we got out of the car we smelled an AMAZING bbq smell!! It was coming from Texas Hold 'Em BBQ. Amazing!! We had baby back ribs, chicken, hush puppies, collard greens, and baked beans. It was by far the most down-home, finger-licking BBQ we've had in a looooong time! 

Finally I'm just catching up with all my social media after my computer has been dead 5 days. 

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to those who serve in our military!! 

The Tickle Trunk

This website has some great stuff..... I subscribe to an email newsletter called "Daily Candy" that sends me lists of the latest clothing trends, recipes, and many different products--tons of cool stuff every day. It also includes a "where to buy" link so you don't have to search for the stuff. This week they included a set of stainless steel popsicle molds. I think I am going to buy these sooner or later. I really like them!!

You can buy them HERE
Don't they look nice? :)

I'm Moving to France

I recently switched jobs. Mostly, to avoid a 2-hour daily commute and 6-day workweek that just never seemed to end. Now that I'm working just 40 hours, I must admit our quality of life has improved drastically. :) Tonight we were watching some TV show that was talking about how many hours Americans work as compared to other countries. I discovered that in France, the work week is just 35 hours. Paid overtime is not allowed. You are guaranteed a minimum of 5 weeks paid vacation each year. When I annouced on Facebook that I will be selling all of our belongings and moving to France, different comments also informed me that maternity leave in France is 4-6 months, paid, and that you may retire at 60. If you have seen anything in my house that you'd like to have, make me an offer...I'm relocating!!

In all seriousness, it is crazy how much priority we place on the job. When Rich and I first moved here, he was working around 100 hours a week to get his station under control. Then I started working to fill time, and my job morphed into six 10-12 hour days a week. He was literally coming home just to sleep a few hours and going right back to work. Between his schedule and mine we didn't see much of each other for awhile! Now that he has the station under control he has been able to back off on his work schedule. He still works about 50-60 hours a week but that is the norm in the US...in fact many people are working 60-80 hours a week nowadays. One of the reasons I decided to switch jobs was simply to place a higher priority on our home life. It is great to actually have time to do simple things....straighten up the house on a daily basis, get dinner on the table each night, take the dog for a walk, go grocery shopping weekly and fold clean laundry!! Sometimes we get to a point where work consumes our lives so much, that we don't have any time or energy to enjoy what should be most important. When we don't have time to enjoy the things we are supposedly working for, it's time to reconsider our priorities.

I thought I'd miss the pay for those extra 20 hours+ a week, but actually it hasn't made a noticeable difference and the sanity we have BOTH gained has been worth every penny. Little challenge for my readers today...keep your priorities straight!! In today's work culture you probably won't have the same job in 20 years--but the goal is to have your family, and a life full of good success! It is easy to convince ourselves that we are working a lot for the right reasons, but in reality most of us could afford to spend more time at home if we are honest with ourselves!

The Benefits of Social Media

Facebook is great for keeping up with people. And frankly, sometimes it's nice to know that I'm not the only person who gets crazy when the house is a mess, or feels grumpy on Monday mornings. There's a lot of wisdom to be gotten, if you will pay attention.

This past week I got 2 little snippets of advice that I really appreciated...

1) Get rid of anything that is not useful, joyful, or beautiful. 

Since I'm already The Queen of Throwing Things Away, I'm now eyeing everything in the house. :) 

2) Don't fret over things that have solutions.

Loved that thought!!! Last night I went into hyperdrive and had an hour cleaning spree. Nothing is as relaxing as a clean house! However, I can get stressed when things aren't just the way I want. 

With my two new mantras, I'm prepared for battle. :)

More Ways to Use Summer Produce

I love, love, LOVE the fresh produce that is available in the spring and summer!! I like to find ways to stick fresh fruits & veggies into everything possible. Last weekend when I bought produce, the honey mangos, pineapple, and gala apples were definitely the highlights. At no other time of year is produce so full-flavored. Today Rich & I bummed around all day. I definitely didn't feel like "cooking" so we had PB & J. I sliced a gala apple into thin rounds and layered a few slices in the sandwiches. Yum. This doesn't work unless the apples are extremely thin!! You can cut the seed portion from the center if you wish, I usually don't. Last night we had chicken caesar salads. Rich only likes the following ingredients: lettuce, croutons, bacon bits, asiago and salad dressing. That just doesn't quite work for me so he enjoyed his boring salad and I added carrots, avocado and grape tomatoes to mine.

His salad looks like this:

And mine always looks like this:

On Friday I had honey mangoes & pineapple for a late breakfast.

Happy Summer!

Strange & Unusual Foods!

I saw a list of unusual foods online...and realized I had tried quite a few of them! Maybe you've tried a lot of them, too. Read through this list--I have included a description for those that may not be obvious to all of you. Maybe you're not sure you've tried Takoyaki, but you somehow remember eating a baby octopus dumpling :) If you've tried more than 50, I am not sure if you are amazing or just plain dumb!! I put a YES or NO to show the 35 that I've tried!

1. Alligator  YES
2. Anchovies  YES
3. Balut : a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell  NO!!! (not for a lack of opportunity! gross!) 
4. Bear  NO
5. Beef Liver  NO
6. Beef tongue  NO
7. Bone Marrow  NO
8. Buffalo  YES
9. Calamari  YES
10. Caviar  YES
11. Chicken Feet  YES
12. Chitterlings  NO
13. Conch  YES
14. Cow intestine  YES
15. Cow Tongue  NO
16. Crawfish  YES
17. Crocodile  NO
18. Cuttlefish  NO
19. Czarnina: a Polish soup made of duck blood (sometimes hen, rabbit or pig blood would be used) and clear poultry broth. In English it is referred to as Duck Blood Soup  NO
20. Dog  NO
21. Donkey  NO
22. Dove  NO
23. Eel  YES
24. Elk  NO
25. Escargot  YES
26. Fish Eyeball  NO
27. Foie Gras: a pate made from goose liver (marinated in Cognac) and truffles  YES
28. Fox  NO
29. Fried Cornmeal mush  NO
30. Frog Legs  YES
31. Goat  YES
32. Haggis: a Scottish dish of a sheep's or calf's offal, suet, oatmeal, and seasoning, boiled in a bag  NO
33. Hákarl: a Greenland or basking shark which has been cured with a particular fermentation process and hung to dry for 4-5 months  NO
34. Head Cheese  YES
35. Hog Maws: the stomach of a pig. More specifically, it is the lining of the stomach, is very muscular and contains no fat, if cleaned properly.  NO
36. Horse  NO
37. Insects  NO
38. Jellyfish  NO
39. Kangaroo  NO
40. Kasava: the starchy tuberous root of a tropical tree, used as food in tropical countries.  YES
41. Kefir  YES
42. Kelp  YES
43. Kim Chee  YES
44. Kiszka: Polish blood sausage  NO
45. Kombucha: a fermented tea that is imbibed for medicinal purposes  YES
46. Lamb's Brain  NO
47. Live Octopus  NO
48. Menudo  YES
49. Miso: a thick paste made from fermented soybeans and barley or rice malt  YES
50. Monkey  NO
51. Moose  YES
52. Octopus  YES
53. Okra  YES
54. Ostrich  NO
55. PB & Banana Sandwich  YES
56. Pheasant  NO
57. Pig's Cheek  NO
58. Pig's Knuckles  NO
59. Pigeon  NO
60. Pigs feet  NO
61. Pigs Tails  NO
62. Poi: a Hawaiian dish made from the fermented root of the taro, baked and pounded to a paste  YES
63. Quail  YES
64. Rabbit  YES
65. Rattle Snake  YES
66. Raw Sushi  YES
67. Rocky Mountain Oysters  NO
68. Rooster Fries (think Rocky Mountain Oysters)  NO
69. Seal Meat  NO
70. Shark  YES
71. Sheep's brains  NO
72. Squab: a baby pigeon  NO
73. Squirrel  NO
74. Sting Ray  NO
75. Sweet Breads: the thymus (throat sweetbread) and the pancreas (heart or stomach sweetbread), especially of the calf and lamb  NO
76. Swordfish  YES
77. Takoyaki: a popular Japanese dumpling made of batter, diced or whole baby octopus, tempura scraps, pickled ginger, and green onion, topped with okonomiyaki sauce, ponzu, mayonnaise, green laver (aonori), and katsuobushi (fish shavings)  NO
78. Tripe: the first or second stomach of a cow or other ruminant used as food  NO
79. Turtle  YES
80. Venison  YES
81. Walrus  NO
82. Whale  NO
83. Whale Blubber  NO
84. Wildebeast  NO
85. Zebra  NO

Happy Anniversary To Me!

Today is our wedding anniversary. I can't believe how life has changed in the few years that Rich and I have been together! Our first date was in December of 2006 and we married on May 16, 2008. A mutual friend told me that she has gone on a date with him and that "she had met the guy for me." I wouldn't even let her introduce us. Imagine how smug she was when we started dating a few months later!

I am so blessed to have married such a steady, supportive, loving & hardworking man. Rich is so good to me and works very hard to provide everything that he thinks I need or want. We are still kids at heart. We are always goofing off and joking around. Those of you who KNOW him know how much he loves candy. Not just any candy--the "kid" kind. Mega Candy Buttons, Giant lollipops, Pez, etc. I have gotten him all kinds of gifts since we have been together. Nice, grown-up gifts. But this year I decided to go outside the norm. I decided to make a giant candy bouquet/basket for him. I went to the Treat Boutique at Pembroke Lakes Mall. You can see their website HERE. I filled up his basket with all kinds of things: FunDip, Giant & medium lollipops, candy necklaces, jawbreakers--giant, medium, and small, giant and medium gumballs, Pixie Straws, Extreme Airheads, all kinds of bulk gummy candies, all kinds of bulk hard candies, rock candy, so much stuff I can't even think of it all. Yesterday I mentioned to him in passing that I hadn't bought anything for him for our anniversary. :) I said, "well, babe, I mean is there anything you really NEED?" heehee. He totally bought it, I'm pretty sure.

I'm sure he will be very surprised at what I got for him this year. It's totally out of the norm for me. :) Hopefully this will be enough candy to last AWHILE!!

Cooking Ahead

When I have time, I try to prepare some of the week's meals ahead of time. Today I cooked up some of my meat and pasta for the different meals we will have this week. Then I can just heat it up, steam some veggies in the microwave, and dinner is served. This week, we'll have pizza casserole, spaghetti & meatballs, chili, tacos, and shepherd's pie. I make ahead some of the ingredients to make things faster. 

The 2 small containers hold meatballs, the sauce for the pizza casserole (click HERE for the recipe) is in the center. On the left is plain browned hamburger for the shepherd's pie and on the right is the browned and seasoned taco meat. 

Medium pasta shells. I cooked one 16-oz box, which will make the pizza casserole and leftovers for a few meals for Rich to take to work. 

In just a minute I'm heading back in the kitchen to steam my mashed potatoes for the shepherd's pie. I bought the kind you steam and mash that are pre-seasoned. Dinner is served!!

{What I Love Wednesday}

I know. It's totally lame to have a household product on What I Love Wednesday. But the thing is, I'm super picky about what touches my laundry. Mostly because so many things make my laundry smell icky. I don't want my clothes to smell like "Rainshower Dreams" or "Lavender & Vanilla" (makes me sneeze). I had been using Purex detergent/fabric softener sheets, but I didn't feel like the laundry smelled fresh when it was coming out of the dryer. I decide to try these Crystals on a whim. I only use about half as much as they say because I have a small washer. And I love, love, love the scent it leaves on my laundry. Works perfectly. No static cling!!

Now the big debate...can I blog about tonight's dinner on my What I Love Wednesday post?? Haha, silly me. Of course I can...it's MY blog! :)

Tonight I made Swordfish Romesco, mashed potatoes and garlic-parm green beans. Mmm.  For those of you who don't know what "Romesco" is:

Romesco is a sauce originating in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain) that is typically made from almonds, pine nuts, and/orhazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil and nyora peppers, a smaller, sweet, dried variety of red bell pepper. Other common ingredients include roasted tomatoes, red wine vinegar and onion. Leaves of fennel or mint may be added, particularly if served with fish or escargot.

I love this as a sauce. You can easily find a recipe for Romesco sauce online. However I have a husband who doesn't particularly care for sauces with his meat. So....I sorta made it half-heartedly, not as a sauce. I used pine nuts (coarsely crushed with my mortar and pestle), minced garlic, olive oil, and a tbsp of roasted red pepper & sun dried tomato vinaigrette salad dressing. I also added some basil, fennel seeds, italian seasoning, and kosher salt. I then browned the fish in a pan over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes per side. We love swordfish and this was a winner!

Meatless Monday in 5 Seconds

Who doesn't like to spend time browsing through grocery stores and specialty markets, farmers markets, etc. in order to make inspired food?? I love it! And I know a lot of you do, too. But in real life, the place where I work a 12-hour day, I have neither the time nor the energy to create something "inspired" every night of the week. On the days that I work, I have become the queen of shortcut dinners. I can put about 20 different meals on the table in 10 minutes or less with the help of pre-made ingredients. I save the real cooking for the nights when I have time to enjoy myself.

I made a very simple dinner for Meatless Monday this week. It is almost shameful, how easy it was. 

1, 2-lb container of pre-made Sour Cream & Chive mashed potatoes (really any kind would do)

1, 12-oz bag of steam-in-bag broccoli florets (I used Publix brand)

1/2 c of shredded cheese, any kind you like--even veggie cheese if you go vegan on Mondays instead of just meatless. 

Microwave potatoes, (takes about 5 minutes) 

Microwave broccoli (takes about 5 minutes). I added Parkay spread and kosher salt to mine. 

Mix both together in a microwave-safe container, sprinkle the cheese on top and microwave until cheese melts (usually about 1-2 minutes).

I have put it in the oven before to melt the cheese. The difference wasn't worth the wait for me. 

Dinner is served. I ate some of the leftovers for lunch just now. And it was good. 

Guest Room...

On thursday, my mom and grandma will be coming to visit us for a long weekend!! The last 3 weeks have been soooo crazy with work, unpacking, organizing, and decorating. I have been racing through each room just getting everything put together. I had been keeping all the odds and ends, extra boxes and all that random stuff that floats around when you move in the guest room. Finally on Saturday I declared crunch time. With the family coming on Thursday, having stacks of stuff in the guest room was not so good. 

The plan was this:   

1) Purchase a full-size mattress set for the guest room 

2) Use the old bed frame from our bed (which is a queen size) for the new set

3) Toss on some linens, put something on the wall, and something on top of the bookshelf in the room for decoration

I originally had planned to do the room in a fresh, summery green and blue. I figured that would look a bit different than the rest of the house. But, as I was running through Target like a maniac, I saw a pillow that had my 2 favorite shades of purple on it. I don't indulge my passion for purple in my "grown up" house. I just think it's weird with a 6' 5" man in the house! I put everything I had back and got a purple coverlet and shams, 2 wire light purple "birds," and a silver weave 3 piece art set for the wall. I decided to use the lamp that I got at Pier 1 for $9. :)

The main problem I ran into was that the queen-sized bed frame does not properly hold a full-sized set as Rich & I thought it would. Also the mattress is not as thick as I thought it would be, so it's a bit lower to the floor. I put a king-sized cover on the bed because  A) I hate fighting for covers, so the more, the better. (No matter who you are!) and  B) I hate bedskirts. Incredibly badly. It's a bit long for the bed but all in all it will serve its purpose as a place to sleep until I have time to finish it. I am working straight through from 7-7 each day till my guests arrive, so there isn't time to worry about a new frame or mattress lift pad. 

When I don't have time to make things quite perfect, I just keep in mind that I will loooove seeing my family, even if I don't feel like things are quite the way I'd love. The rest of the house is pretty much done, and I love how things have turned out! Cheers!

  The weave art...not hung yet

  My cute wire birds

  For some crazy reason, I love these silly birds

 My $9 lamp

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

The two people in the house who are best at relaxing. :) 

A Problem, Solved

One of the delights of my dog's old age began the day we "gave" him a tiny kitten to play with. He loves his kitty. In fact, when we go away, we usually take the dog and leave the cat. When they are reunited, it is ridiculous. They are best of friends. However, with this cute little friendship came an added bonus for the dog: Emmett's potty box. Not so cute. Now for the gross part: dogs are attracted to the undigested protein in "cat scat." While dogs in the wild eat many different types of foods, cats are carnivores. Therefore, a cat's diet must be must higher in protein than a dog's diet. For the typical scavenging dog, this is somewhat like a pre-digested hotdog. For the typical human being, it's nothing short of nauseatingly horrendous. Imagine your cute little doggie hiding out in dark corners and under furniture, crunching away on crusty catty-patties. Super disgusting? Totally. Emmett was almost 7 months old before Acapulco discovered this particular delicacy. For the past 17 months, I have been trying box after box. Each litter box promises to have some unique little feature to keep the dog out. From litter boxes with flaps, to tiny entries, to the most recent $89 automatic litter box (which left little pieces behind), I have had zero success from preventing the dog from getting into the cat box. Then, I decided to try the CleverCat Box. This box is ugly, which is why I resisted putting it in my house in the first place. HOWEVER it works 100%. The opening is on the top, which is fine for the cat, but not so fine for the dog. Perfect! I feel sane again. For those of you who don't have a crazy cat and disgusting dog, you are probably thinking that this is completely nuts. But trust me, unbelievable numbers of pet owners fight this battle every day. I know. I work in an animal hospital :)

For those of you who may have a cat/dog household, you can find this potty box HERE.

For the rest of you, hope you at least got an incredulous laugh.

Dining Room

Finally Rich & I have a day off together, and my bridge has taken its rightful place in the dining room. I realize there are a lot of people who feel that you should decorate kitchens and dining rooms solely with food-themed artwork. However, I don't care to look at pictures of tomatoes and eggplants while I am eating. I prefer to fill our home with things that have some meaning for me. I love seeing the Golden Gate bridge while we are having dinner. :)

Centerpiece Ideas...

I'm considering some kind of grouping like this for our dining table. Hmm...

Time for a Summer Tasting Party?

Today I went to Pier 1 and completed my dinnerware collection.

While I was there, I had so much fun looking at their tasting party collection. Of course I had no trouble envisioning perfect little portions of scrumptious dishes presented beautifully in all of the nifty little tasting pieces. But then I remembered how much I (don't) enjoy entertaining, or the fact that I have no idea what, exactly, it is that I would make to fill up all the many tasting dishes!! Whether or not you like to entertain, you'll enjoy browsing through their tasting party section on their website. They even include some recipe!! Who knows, maybe someday I will attempt a tasting party!

I finally decided to get different dinner napkins. The ones that I originally chose seemed a bit busy with the beaded border on top of the napkin rings. The ones I finally picked up are an interesting summery-green color with a discreet mustard yellow border. The green matched the border on my table runner. They are actually a variated color so they are not a solid green.   The colors never show true when I take pictures...but I've included a picture anyway, because this is a blog...and that's what you're supposed to do!

These are the rattan chargers and napkin ring I chose, as well

I also found a great lamp that I really, really wanted for the beside tables in our master. It was 80% off...because it  was the last one in any Pier1 store. :( I did buy it, because it was only $9. I'm sure I will need it. :)